Automobile industry flexing muscles and creating trends

China's prosperous auto revolution will influence the look, design and type of car everyone will be driving in the not-so-distant future.

The world's largest market has always determined the type of vehicles we drove and for more than 50 years America was king of the road.

Industry veterans recall those happy days of glistening chrome, winged chariots and high horsepower, but as Europe, Japan and South Korea joined the US as cradles of mass production, cars became more influenced by accountants than design engineers.

A new auto king has risen and as Chinese car companies feed the aspirations of hundreds of millions in the middle class, cutting-edge technology, fresh designs and new life are blossoming.

These new cars are proudly displayed at the seventh China (Guangzhou) International Automobile Exhibition that opens to the media on Nov 23.

The show's themes of "Technology, Trends, and New Life" sum up today's events perfectly. Beijing and Shanghai auto shows may have higher international profiles, but expos like Guangzhou really show off the important details, those nuts and bolts of China's motoring miracle.

At last year's show, Geely Automobile launched its first mini car, the Panda (Xiongmao). The 1.3-liter, 41,800 yuan car is part of an array of mini subcompacts designed for urban driving. Expect these to be powered by batteries very soon.

Also in 2008, Guangzhou Honda Automobile Co debuted a new concept car under the joint venture's own brand Linian.

The company will start building its first unique model next year as will Guangzhou Automobile in the shape of the VIP Lounge, a mid-size concept sedan. These are just two new cars are strangers to the world, but not for too much longer - and more are on the way.

Auto shows in China - and there are about 20 every year - influence Chinese consumers much more than they do in developed nations.

A recent survey showed that local new car buyers rely on word-of-mouth advice from family and friends first and auto shows second. The Internet is in third position.

TV and print media don't have the same impact and Chinese car sales people have yet to gain real credibility. Why would anyone listen to the advice of a young salesman who may not own a car and may not even have a driver's license?

The Guangzhou expo comes at an auspicious time, just one month after China's 10 millionth vehicle, a Jiefang (Liberation) truck, rolled off a FAW assembly line. The J6 model truck was a symbolic statement of what the nation's auto industry needs to continue its dynamic and determined progress.

The showcase vehicle wasn't a flashy sports car, a buffed-up SUV or a cute subcompact. It was a six-wheeled workhorse built to haul goods from the factories to the market place. As any proud truck driver will tell you, trucks not only move goods, they also move economies and drive a nation's prosperity.

But the J6 was not just any truck. It was wholly designed and engineered in China and reflects the rising spirit of Chinese innovation through scientific development.

It is Liberation in every sense of the word because it shows Chinese companies are working smarter, not just harder.

Packed auto shows are now a frequent sight in cities around China. An Dong

In early 2006, FAW opened a new 250,000-sq-m, $180 million state-of-the-art truck assembly plant in Changchun, capital of Jilin province in northeast China, but the company's best engineering minds had already been working on something very special.

FAW did not want to keep borrowing ideas from the West and committed 13 billion yuan to develop its own vehicle brands.

FAW liberated its thinking and a new generation of motor vehicle was born. It is somewhat fitting that the Jiefang truck was chosen as such a pioneering vehicle because in 1956, a Liberation truck was the first set of wheels made in new China.

Borrowing from the Soviet truck model, which borrowed its looks from the American 1940s International Harvester, it carried 4 tons and hit a top speed of 65km/h.

The 2009 J6 is from another automotive planet and before it was released 97 test models were driven 3.6 million km in the most extreme conditions.

Test models were pushed on frozen roads of Mohe in northern China, ran red hot in the tropical heat of Hainan island, before being exposed to the driest of conditions in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. Finally, the truck journeyed west to the roof of the world across the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

In 2007, the all-new J6M sparkled and featured a brand-new 12.5-liter, 250kW engine. It was the first world-class truck to be independently designed and built by a Chinese truck maker featuring that magic mix of American power, European comfort and Chinese characteristics.

FAW says the J6M puts China on the global stage with established brands from Europe and the United States for the first time as a serious contender in the premium long-distance truck segment.

The Liberation is also a metaphor for Guangdong province, which too has labored as a workhorse for the nation and is now hosting a spectacular auto show.

Guangdong is responsible for moving China forward, but its swarm of factories are also blamed for causing damage to the environment.

China has been boosting investment and offering incentives to accelerate the development of fuel-efficient and eco-friendly vehicles and it is fitting that battery and electric car producer BYD Automobile Co Ltd has just opened a new plant to make batteries in Huizhou in Guangdong.

The carmaker with strong support from billionaire Warren Buffett said the 5 billion yuan plant will enable it to mass produce electric cars. Chinese authorities hope to have 500,000 green cars on the roads by 2011. When this eco motoring evolution begins millions of these green vehicles and other Chinese designs will follow.

The author is a veteran auto writer in Australia.

(China Daily 11/23/2009 page6)